Paul and Lucy Spadoni periodically live in Tuscany to explore Paul’s Italian roots, practice their Italian and enjoy “la dolce vita.”
All work is copyrighted and may not be reprinted without written permission from the author, who can be contacted at www.paulspadoni.com

Saturday, April 4, 2015

How does Spadoni’s Market of Eureka fit into the Spadoni family tree?

I have long known about
Spadoni’s Market of Eureka, California. Friends saw the store years
ago and stopped to snap a photo for me. Some of my Gig Harbor cousins
once stopped there and spoke with the owner, and they figured they
must be related, because the market owners came from the same general
area of Italy as our ancestors.

A link does exist, and I
have finally discovered it. However, it is about as distant as it can
get and still be within the boundaries of verifiable. The quest to
determine the connection started when I was contacted by Richard
Hallford in 2011. He is a friend of Leroy “Roy” Spadoni, who grew
up in the San Francisco area. He wanted to give Roy a gift of
knowledge about his family’s origins. At the time, I still knew
little of my own family history and couldn’t offer any help to
Rich. But as I continued to travel to Italy and learn how to access
records here, I realized that the answer to Roy’s ancestry lay in
the parish archives in Pescia, which has the baptismal, death and
marriage records for many of the churches in the Valdinievole.

In 2012, I was contacted
by Ray Spadoni, a first cousin to Roy, and also by Jeanette Spadoni,
Ray’s sister-in-law. Using information from Rich, Ray and
Jeanette, I pieced together a rudimentary family tree, but I was led
astray by some information that led me to believe that Roy and Ray’s
grandparents were from Massa Macinaia, which is about 15 miles west
of Stignano, the town where most of the Spadoni family here
originated. Last year, I realized that I didn’t have the time and
patience to search every church record to find their ancestors, and
so I finally paid Andrea Mandroni, a professional archivist, to do
the work. It turns out that was a good move, because when he gave me
the results, he said it was “quasi un miracolo” that he
was able to find the records—almost a miracle.

This photo of Massa is taken from Cozzile.

It turns out that most
members of the family were from Massa e Cozzile, not Massa Macinaia.
Massa and Cozzile are two picturesque ancient villages in the
hillsides above the Valdinievole, only about three miles north of
Stignano. Because they are so close together, they have only one
comune and are thus often referred to as Massa e Cozzile. Roy
and Ray’s grandfather Luigi had five sons. Four were born in Massa
e Cozzile, and the youngest in Colle di Buggiano, which is located
between Stignano and Massa e Cozzile.

And here is Cozzile, taken from Massa.

The father of Ray and his
brother James, Jeanette’s late husband, was Piacentino “Peter”
Spadoni, born in 1895. Roy’s dad was Ezio Spadoni, born in 1898.
Luigi and Maria Vezzani’s three other sons were Nello, 1888; Gino,
1891; and finally Giulio Giuseppe “Beppe”), 1904. Gino did not
marry, and I haven’t been able to determine yet if Beppe had any
children. However, Nello is the founder of Spadoni’s Market, and he
has many descendants still living in California.

Nello married Italia
Ciabattari, also born not far from Stignano, and they moved to
Eureka, along the northern California coastline, where they purchased
the Last Chance Service Station in 1927. It was a convenience store
and the last gas station that a driver would encounter when leaving
Eureka from the north side. Their son Gino, 16 years old when the
family purchased the store, replaced the Last Chance in 1956 with a
new building, and he and his wife Sarah renamed it Spadoni’s
Market. Gino passed away in 1977, but Sarah continued to operate the
store. In 1981, Gino “GJ” Spadoni Jr. purchased it from his
mother, and he operated the store in much the same way as his parents
had done.

From the Humboldt County
Historical Society, I obtained a copy of an article from the Eureka
Reporter dated Dec. 21, 2006, which tells of GJ’s decision to close
the store after 79 years of family ownership. “I am tired, and it’s
time for me to catch up on some things,” he says in the article.

GJ had two sisters, Ada
and Virginia, and I found an obituary for Virginia which gave the
name of her children. Through that source, I also located one of her
daughters, Sheryn McBride, who told me that GJ is “alive and well.”

As to how my clan of the
Gig Harbor-based Spadoni family is related to Luigi Spadoni’s
descendants, it is an extremely ancient tie. When Francesco Spadoni,
born around 1455 in Marliana, moved to Stignano in the late 1400s, he
had two children, Michele and Bartolomeo. Luigi and his five children
are descendants of Michele. My line of the family comes from
Bartolomeo, and thus I am probably something like a 15th
cousin of the people with whom I am corresponding.

Unfortunately, I have no
idea where the photo I once had of Spadoni’s Market is today. I
hope that I can obtain photos from Sheryn and perhaps establish
contact with JG. Even if we are the most distant of relatives, we
have very much in common as descendants from the Great Italian Diaspora.

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First off, before you hassle me about our title, Lucy thought of it. Yes, I know some people may think broad is derogatory, but the etymology is uncertain and she doesn’t find it offensive, and it made me laugh. We have been married since 1974 and are empty-nesters now, which allows me to bring my submerged Italophilia into the open. We first came to live in Italy from February-April in 2011 and have returned during the same months every year. From 2011-2015, we lived in San Salvatore, at the foot of the hilltop city Montecarlo, where my paternal grandparents were born, raised and, in 1908, married. In late 2015, we bought a home in Montecarlo. We come for a variety of purposes: We want to re-establish contact with distant cousins in both Nonno’s and Nonna’s families, we want to learn the language and see what it is like to live as Italians in modern Italy, we like to travel and experience different cultures. Even if we aren’t successful at achieving these purposes, we love Italy and enjoy every moment here, so there is no chance we will be disappointed. I am grateful to God for giving me a wife who is beautiful, clever, adaptable and willing to jump into my dreams wholeheartedly.